


homiēs

by zeffie



Category: Step Up (Movies)
Genre: F/F, her name is shay, i legit couldn't think of anything else sorry team, other than that it's pretty canon compliant, sean is a girl
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-22
Updated: 2020-06-22
Packaged: 2021-03-04 04:34:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,663
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24857701
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/zeffie/pseuds/zeffie
Summary: it's just step up all in if sean was a gay girl instead :)
Relationships: Sean Asa/Andie West, Shay Asa/Andie West
Comments: 2
Kudos: 5





	homiēs

**Author's Note:**

> i started writing this like three years ago & completely forgot about it until i started rewatching step up all in tonight. so here it is. it follows almost the exact same plot as the actual film, i only made a few small changes really. 
> 
> named after the beanie andie wears in one of the rehearsal scenes bc my friend has the same hat.
> 
> hope you enjoy :)

When she sees the ad for The Vortex, she immediately thinks of her crew. She’s got her phone in her hand, Eddy’s number on the screen, before she can think better of it. But she doesn’t dial. With the way things were left, better to give them, Eddy in particular, longer to cool off. That boy sure can hold onto things.  
The eviction notice pushes The Vortex to the side. Three days. It’s not long, but she can do it. She still has a friend or two in Los Angeles.

Two days later, and she’s sitting on an unfamiliar front step, waiting. She doesn’t have to wait long.  
“Shay!” she hears. She turns towards the sound, grinning.  
“Moose,” she greets. “How’s it going, my man? How’s Camille?”  
Moose pulls her into a hug. “It’s good, it’s good. Sorry to hear about your crew. That’s gotta suck.”  
Shay shrugs, plays it off like it’s nothing. “They did what they had to, ya know? I don’t blame them. Hey, thanks for sorting this out for me.”  
“Anything for a friend. Come on, I’ll introduce you.”  
She gets the grand tour and then lets Moose take her out for a smoothie before she gets started on her new job. Once they’ve caught up, she mentions The Vortex.  
Moose looks thoughtful for a few moments, but shakes his head. “I got work,” he says apologetically. “Sorry. I don’t dance anymore.”  
“No big deal,” she says. “It was just a thought. I’d better get to work, before your grandparents kick me out.”  
Moose lets her go, promising to have her over for dinner at his and Camille’s place. She climbs the stairs of her new workplace/home and tries to put The Vortex out of her mind.

One week later, she’s perched precariously at the top of a rickety old ladder, replacing lightbulbs in the chandelier. There’s dust in her hair, and sticking to her sweaty face, and she’s rolled her overalls down to her waist. This is harder than it looks.  
For some reason, she’s thinking about Emily. It’s been six months; she should be over it by now, and she mostly is. But she still thinks about her from time to time. She wishes for a second that Emily hadn’t gone on tour, had chosen instead to stay with her. It’s for the best, though. Emily’s an amazing dancer and it was, literally, a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.  
She’s pulled out of her thoughts by Moose calling her name. He lives nearby, so she’s used to him dropping by.  
“Hey, Moose,” she calls out. She can see him bouncing slightly, like a kid with good news. “I’m almost done, give me thirty seconds.”  
He doesn’t wait. “So, The Vortex, huh? We’d better get a crew together fast. Video submissions are due soon, right?”  
She squeals and nearly falls off the ladder. “Shit, give me a second, I said! You’ll kill me, and then we’ll never get to Vegas.” She puts the old bulb in her toolbelt and shimmies down the ladder. “You changed your mind!” she whoops, throwing her arms around Moose. They do an impromptu dance around the studio. Chad gives them a dirty look.  
Moose brings them to a stop. “Okay. Crew. I know just where to start.”

Moose has dragged her to . . . a fashion show? There are massive yellow balloons everywhere, and a model dressed in folds upon folds of yellow tulle sits on a giant swing and accuses someone of making her look fat.  
“Moose, what is this place? Are we here for costumes?” She’s dubious. It doesn’t look like the sort of place that could help them. Then again, Moose definitely seems to know what he’s doing. She changes course and heads towards a rack of clothes. As she’s rifling through, she spots a pair of lacy underwear and snorts to herself. They go on her head and she spins around, face turned profile for added drama. “Moose, I think I’ve found our crew’s look,” she declares.  
There’s silence. Not a good sign. She turns her head to see Moose standing beside a very pretty, very unimpressed girl. Shay rips the underwear off her head and tries to pretend nothing out of the ordinary happened.  
The girl snorts. “Classy,” she says. “Look, it’s a cute idea, but I can’t. I have work, and you know I don’t do that shit anymore.”  
Shay can’t resist. “So, no costumes for us? I’m sure we’ll manage.”  
The girl raises an eyebrow and gives her A Look. “Costumes? Sweetheart, I could dance circles around you, even now.”  
Shay scoffs. “Okay, sweetheart, I’m sure you can.”  
Moose is shaking his head. “Come on, guys,” he whines. “Why does it always have to end in a dance battle?”  
It’s too late. The girl kicks some balloons out of her way and performs a series of quick moves that, Shay has to admit, look pretty sweet. If she’s this good when she’s improvising, she’ll kill it when they do choreography. But even so, Shay can’t let herself back down from a battle.  
The rest of the world falls away a little bit as the two of them try to outdo each other. She has to admit, she’s having fun. Plus, this girl is hella good-looking. Moose, meanwhile, has retreated behind a rack of clothing. Probably wise.  
The next thing she knows, the girl has stopped and is staring over Shay’s shoulder. The model on the swing is shrieking and so is a woman who Shay thinks might be the girl’s boss.  
“Clean it up, or you’re fired!” the woman yells.  
The girl looks at Shay, then Moose. She smirks. “Clean it up yourself,” she retorts lazily. “I quit.”  
She leads the way outside. Moose high-fives her.  
“Didn’t I tell you?” he whispers gleefully to Shay. “Andie’s great!”

Hopped up on adrenalin, they make more stops and phone calls and end up with a crew of twelve. Once Kido gets to L.A. with the van and the last remaining crew members, Shay immediately implements a tough training regime. Or at least, she tries to. For some reason, Andie has decided that she is in charge.  
They’re in the middle of their fifth argument (in one day) when Moose interrupts.  
“Guys,” he says. “I have an idea for our submission.”  
Shay rolls her eyes in Andie’s direction, but allows herself to be distracted. Their video submission is way more important than trying to convince some random that her training regime will work.  
“Okay, so,” Moose begins. “I work at this electrical plant. I think we can make this work.”

They nail their choreography in record time. Four days later, Moose calls to say his boss is away at a conference. They have six hours.  
They film a Frankenstein-themed piece with discordant music, flashing lights and a lot of fake smoke. They chose LMNTRIX as their crew name. Andie uploads it while the others help Moose clean up.  
“All done!” Andie says brightly. “How long do you think before we hear? A couple days?”  
“Hopefully,” Monster says.  
“A week, max,” Violet puts in. “Otherwise we probably didn’t get in.”  
“Well,” Shay tells them, “there’s no point stressing about it.” She’s going to try not to think about it.

“It’s been two weeks,” Moose tells her, like she doesn’t already know.  
She sighs. “Yeah. Guess it’s a good thing none of us quit our jobs yet. Except Andie.”  
Moose laughs. “She’s gonna be pissed.”  
Shay catches sight of Moose’s grandparents dancing together. There’s no music playing right now, but they don’t look like they care. They’re smiling at each other like there’s nothing else important in the world.  
“They’re adorable,” she sighs. “Look at them.”  
Moose nods.  
They watch for a few seconds more. Ana spots them and smiles at them, then seems to remember something.  
“Boris, where is that lemon-tricks thing?” she asks.  
Shay and Moose look at each other. Boris leaves the room and comes back with a parcel he throws at them. “Lemon-tricks,” he says. The box has LMNTRIX stamped on it.  
Moose tears it open. Light bursts out, followed by the organiser’s voice, welcoming them to The Vortex.  
“Yes!” Shay cries. “We got in!”

They have dinner with Moose’s grandparents before they leave. Moose invites Camille and Andie as well. Ana has cooked some interesting dishes from her homeland, and Camille has brought what she calls “vege loaf.”  
“How are you enjoying the meatballs?” Ana asks Shay.  
“They’re delicious, thank you,” she replies.  
Ana winks at her. “I give you the recipe, you make for your man one day.”  
Shay smiles uncomfortably. “Oh, um. Thank you.” Out of the corner of her eye, she sees Andie giving her a weird look.  
“They’re delicious,” Andie says politely. “The texture is interesting. Quite . . . chewy.”  
“That means he was a tough goat,” Boris says slyly.  
Shay and Andie immediately stop chewing, wondering if they heard right. There is silence for a few seconds as they struggle to swallow.  
“Goat?” Andie clarifies.  
Boris nods and makes goat noises.  
Camille once again offers everyone her vege loaf.

In the kitchen, later, Andie and Shay do the dishes.  
“You seemed pretty excited about the idea of making meatballs for your future husband,” Andie says, grinning.  
Shay shrugs. “Hard to get excited about something that’ll never happen,” she replies.  
Andie frowns. “You don’t want to get married?”  
“Oh, no, I do. Eventually. It just—” She sighs, wondering about the best way to word it. Somehow, it’s never really gotten easier, and she’s learned that different people need different approaches. “It won’t be to a man,” she finishes delicately.  
Andie stares for a second before it clicks. Her eyes widen. “Oh! You’re . . .”  
“I’m gay, yes.”  
Andie nods slowly, then turns back to the dishes. “Cool. I don’t, like, have a problem, in case you were wondering. I’ve just never met anyone gay before.”  
Shay snorts before she can stop herself. “Oh, you have. You just didn’t know. There’s a difference.” She laughs.  
“What? How do you know that?” Andie flicks the tea towel at her and grins.  
“You’ve met Hair, haven’t you?” Shay quirks an eyebrow and waits for it to sink in.  
Andie gasps. “No way! What?”  
Shay pretends to brush dust off her shoulder. “My gaydar is exceptional. Ask him, he doesn’t mind. He doesn’t advertise it, but he’s fine with his friends knowing. Anyway, why do you think he brought his ‘barber’ along?”  
Andie considers that for a moment. “Crazy,” she says, finally. She goes back to the dishes. “Can’t believe we’re going to Vegas tomorrow.”  
Shay smiles, and they talk about The Vortex instead.

Their welcome to The Vortex leaves a lot to be desired (thank you, cameramen and lack of privacy) but their rooms are sweet with a capital S. They settle in, then head down for the first round. This one isn’t a battle. Each group dances once, then the final four are chosen.  
When they see their competition, Shay gets the shock of a lifetime.  
“Eddy?” she asks incredulously. Her best friend eyes her warily.  
“Nice of you to call your crew,” he says. His face is equal parts angry and hurt.  
“Right,” she scoffs. “My crew who abandoned me in L.A.? You could have called me, Eddy.” She doesn’t want to fight with him, not again. The fight about Emily and her father had been bad enough. She doesn’t want to lose him completely.  
Jason gives her the dirtiest look he can manage as the MOB shoulders past.  
“I’m here to win,” Eddy calls back as he walks away, “even if it is against you.”  
She breathes in and out carefully. She hates this, but LMNTRIX needs to win, too. She needs the job.  
LMNTRIX dance flawlessly and make the cut. The MOB, the Grim Knights, and all-girl group called Divine Intention are the other three groups to advance. There’s a pretty redhead in Divine Intention whose robot moves match Vladd’s. It’s love at first sight, and Vladd wilts after the girl’s teammates pull her into the elevator and away.  
“Time to practise,” Shay says loudly. The others look around sceptically. “Not here,” she adds. “Umm . . .”  
In the end, they manage to sweet talk housekeeping into showing them a wide, mostly empty corridor. Someone sets up some music and they’re off.  
A couple of hours in, Shay can tell everyone’s starting to get a little frustrated. She’s getting pretty frustrated herself, actually. She knows everyone can do it, but there’s always a few little mistakes.  
“No, no, stop,” she calls. The music shuts off.  
“Shay, we’re doing well,” Andie says pointedly.  
“No, you’ve got to do it like this.” She demonstrates the move. “Again.”  
Andie rolls her eyes. “Good work, everyone! We’re done for today. See you back upstairs.”  
“Thank god,” someone mutters. They stretch and gather up their stuff and then it’s just Shay and Andie left.  
“Dude, what the hell?” Andie demands. “Stop working them so hard or they’ll break.”  
Shay ignores her. “While you’re here, I have this move I want us to try.”  
She’s been picturing it in her mind for ages. She’s seen how Andie dances and she’s pretty sure they can nail it.  
She talks Andie into climbing onto her legs but when she tells the other girl she’ll be tossing her in the air, she freaks out and tells Shay about her knee injury. and then she storms out.  
“Fuck,” Shay mutters to herself. Oh well. Might as well nail the rest of the choreography while she’s here.

When she heads back to their rooms, she runs into Andie, who’s heading out and looks suspiciously dressed up. They make some awkward eye contact as Andie says she talked the crew into going out for the night to wind down. There’s a beat before she tells Shay to come out too. She has the fastest shower of her life and throws on a nice dress and some make up, and then heads out to catch up with the others.  
They drink and dance; it’s pure, simple fun. Someone steals the hat from a girl selling roses, and she laughs until they give it back. Someone else finds shots somewhere.  
Shay spots a corridor with an old, broken neon sign. She pulls Andie with her and runs, skidding in the dust. There are more signs. Even old and abandoned, they look cool. At the end of the corridor, there’s some sort of fairground ride with cars attached to the floor that looks like it might spin.  
Shay laughs when she hears the song that’s playing. “I love this song! Come on, dance with me.”  
Andie looks at her like she’s crazy, but does it anyway. Someone turns the thing on, and sure enough the floor spins. They dance and dance. They climb into one of the cars and find a stuffed toy that they pretend to fight over until they tear it apart. Shay finds toy dogs on fake leashes and they run around like their dogs are pulling them.  
It’s fun.  
Shay gets caught up in the moment, and the next time she spins Andie into her arms, she leans down to kiss her. Andie pulls away. Next thing Shay knows, she’s gone. Again.  
She sighs and rubs her eyes. Fuck. Obviously, she misread the situation. She knows Andie’s straight; she’d mentioned her ex-boyfriend in conversation a few times. She should have known better than to try to kiss a straight girl.

When she gets back to the hotel, Moose is missing. Once the others have calmed down, they tell her what happened. Moose had been dancing with some girl at her bachelorette party when she’d kissed him . . . just in time for Camille, who had arrived with Moose’s grandparents to watch them compete, to witness the whole thing. She’d stormed off (definitely seems to be the night for it, Shay thinks tiredly) and Moose had followed. No one’s heard from them yet.  
Andie also seems to be missing. At least, she’s not anywhere Shay looks. She’ll just have to give her space. She’ll reappear in time for their next round.

In a devastating turn of events, they’re up against the MOB. As they wait, Eddy makes his way to stand beside her.  
“I can’t believe this,” he says. He ties a bandanna around his head. Shay says nothing.  
“Man, are you just going to ignore me?” he demands. “After everything—”  
Jason pulls him away, muttering, “It’s not worth it. Let’s go.”  
Shay steels herself to compete against her old crew.  
It’s a tough battle, for sure, but LMNTRIX wins by the tiniest margin, despite a fight almost breaking out between the two groups and Andie refusing to try the flip move Shay pulls her into.  
The MOB stalks off the stage, and Eddy yells at her. “I hope you’re happy!” he shouts. No one else seems to hear him over the cheering. Jason shoots her another Look.  
Then they’re gone.  
Shay pulls herself together long enough to realise Andie’s storming out. She runs after her, hoping to . . . actually, she doesn’t know what she’s hoping for. But whatever it is, Andie doesn’t give it to her.  
“You tried to pull me into a trick I wasn’t ready for!” Her voice, always husky, seems closer to breaking point. Shay can tell she’s upset.  
“But we won,” she says.  
“That’s all you care about?” Shay can’t read the look in Andie’s eyes. and she can’t think of anything to say to stop Andie from walking away from her again.

Back in their rooms, they’re celebrating again. Someone turns the TV on and the twins somehow know the moves to the Alexxa Brava video that’s playing. On screen, the competition host sings about voodoo while scantily clad men dance around. Men, actually, that look a little familiar.  
“Hey, that’s the Grim Knights guy!”  
“Is he wearing a sparkle thong?”  
“I knew that face looked familiar!”  
“He looks like a giant baby!”  
“Wait til Shay hears about this,” Violet says.

Andie arrives back at the suite just as the others are wondering where she is. She doesn’t say anything, just grabs Kido’s glass of bubbly and downs it in one go. Kido wisely decides to follow Chad to get ice instead of asking her what’s wrong.  
Shay returns shortly after, but just as she steps into the room, she’s almost taken out by Kido and Chad bolting through the door. They’re talking over each other, very fast. It takes a while to get through what they’re saying. All they can make out at first is that Alexxa and Jasper were making out, and Alexxa said something was going to be “killer TV.”  
When she finds out that the competition has been rigged from the start, Shay is devastated and more than ready to call it off. Somehow she once again says the wrong thing, and Andie gives her a look that’s equal parts hurt, disappointed, and angry. Then she’s gone. Again.  
So Shay leaves as well.

Moose’s grandparents are sitting in a restaurant downstairs, having the time of their lives. They spot Shay and refuse to let her go without sitting down with them.  
“What time are you dancing tomorrow?” they ask.  
Shay shakes her head slowly. “I don’t think we are,” she admits. “The whole thing was rigged. There’s no point now. We can’t win.” She sighs and takes a big mouthful of beer. “I just want to go home.”  
Boris and Ana exchange a glance, then launch into the most heart-warming speech Shay has ever heard. Boris tells her how he stepped on, and broke, Ana’s foot right before a competition. The smile they share says he was forgiven a very long time ago.  
“Winning is not the only thing,” they say. “Don’t give up now. You’ve all worked so hard to be here.”  
Ana pulls Shay into a tight hug, then holds her by the face and looks deep into her eyes.  
“You know what you need to do,” she whispers.  
Shay thinks she might be right.

Eddy slams the door in Shay’s face. So she knocks again. When he opens the door again, he just looks so tired. She misses him a lot.  
“I’m so sorry,” she says. “I thought I could figure everything out, I—”  
“Just stop!” He’s not yelling, exactly. Then his lips quirk halfway into a smile. “You look ridiculous when you cry.”  
“I just . . . I could really use a friend right now,” Shay admits.  
Eddy forgives her. Of course he does. But then he forces her to apologise to the rest of the MOB because they, as Eddy tells her, “still hate your guts.”  
“Okay. Fine. Jesus. But you can’t tell them I cried.”  
“You look crazy when you cry,” Eddy says, laughing. He lets her in and closes the door behind her.  
She doesn’t point out that’s not a no.

LMNTRIX is almost finished packing when Shay gets back to their suite. She takes a deep breath. She knows she has one chance to pitch her plan, and she has to get it right. They’re so close to just leaving, and honestly she can’t blame them. Not when she was so ready to do the exact same thing herself.  
“Guys, I have a plan,” she begins. Then, “Wait, where’s Andie?”  
Violet says she left already. “She didn’t want to ride in the van with—” Violet gives Shay a very pointed look—“everybody.”  
Shay sighs. “Okay, please, drop your bags and meet me in the basement. I have a plan, I swear.”  
They grumble, but they do as she requests. As they all file out, she pulls out her phone and calls Andie. Who, not surprisingly, doesn’t pick up. Shay figures she’s halfway home by now, but she can’t stop herself from leaving a message anyway. “We’ll be in the basement, if you get this.” She forces herself to hang up before she says anything else.  
The others are waiting for her in the basement, so she pulls herself together and tries to ignore her nerves.  
Then she speaks. She tells them about her dreams, and how the lifestyle of a dancer isn’t easy. “I wanted to win so bad,” she says, “that I didn’t realise what I was losing.”  
They listen silently, faces giving nothing away. Shay can’t tell how this is going to go, but it’s actually making her less nervous.  
“Let’s give it all we have,” she encourages. “Not for the show, or for the people watching. For us. This is what matters!” She takes a deep breath. “I see that now.”  
A familiar voice comes from behind her, startling her.  
“Nice,” Andie says, smiling a secret smile. Shay’s heart beats a little bit faster. How long has she been standing there? She can’t believe Andie came back.  
“I thought you were gone,” Shay says softly. Andie shrugs and says she’s back now and that if LMNTRIX is dancing, so is she.  
“Thanks for coming ba—” Shay starts. Andie looks her right in the eye and says, “I’m not doing this for you.”  
Okay, well. That’s not exactly the warm reception Shay was hoping for. Something in her chest starts to hurt a little. She’ll have to work hard to make it up to Andie.  
But she doesn’t have time to think about that now, because Moose and Camille are here now too. They’ve obviously worked things out, which is fantastic. Shay can’t help but feel a tiny bit envious. But they’re here to help, and they’ve all got a plan to put in place. So Shay puts her feelings to the side, and they get stuck in.  
The MOB shows up moments later. There’s confusion for a moment, but Shay introduces everyone.  
When someone asks what the plan is, she makes her answer simple.  
“We’re gonna bring this fucking house down.”

Obviously, there’s a bit more to it than that. The final battle is going to be recorded the next evening, so they have a lot of work to do. They stay up for a few hours longer, putting pieces of the plan together and starting to work out the details. Then, just after one in the morning, they call it a night and make a plan to meet back in the basement at nine am to get back into it.  
By the time the battle rolls around, everyone is less nervous than they expected. It helps that Alexxa is just so over the top as she sets the scene, standing up on the podium in the middle of the stage. She reminds the audience to text in their votes, her strange, snake-like collar swaying around her head. Shay scoffs quietly.  
and then it’s time. The Grim Knights descend from the ceiling on chandeliers, which Shay grudgingly admits is very cool. They’re dressed sort of like budget gladiators though, which takes some of the appeal away.  
They get through their routine, and Alexxa claps daintily from her seat. She’s wearing a little smile that says things are going how she wants them to.  
Well, not for long.  
It’s LMNTRIX’s turn.  
Shay begins by giving a little speech. She thanks Alexxa for allowing them to be on the show, and says it’s going to make for some “killer TV.” Even from her position below, she can spot Alexxa’s smile drop. It brings her a small amount of joy.  
Then she thanks her crew, her friends. One woman in particular, she says, who has taught her what really matters. Andie’s smile, from just slightly off-stage, is a few degrees warmer than it’s been all day. Shay feels infinitely better.  
They absolutely nail their choreography. Moose starts out, gentle and weary, with a suitcase from which another dancer emerges. They fill the podium with sand, from which more dancers emerge. The audience cheers in delight. Then the girls emerge, twirling flaming batons while they dance. They bring out dancers from the MOB, which Alexxa and the Grim Knights are very visibly not happy about. The crowd cheers louder. Shay, watching from off-stage while she waits for her queue, is very pleased.  
Kido kills it, skating over the backs of the other dancers. Then it’s time for Shay and Andie to take over the podium, while dancers from Divine Intention join the floor. Vladd and his red-haired beau make the best robots the audience has ever seen. Everyone is in step, in sync. Moose and Camille are dancing sweetly together.  
On the podium, Andie pulls Shay closer. “Hey,” she says. “Let’s do it. Let’s do the move.”  
Shay can see she’s nervous. “Yeah?” she asks.  
Andie nods, smiling. “You better catch me.”  
Shay does catch her. She doesn’t put her down, even when the music stops. The sound of the audience and the rest of the dancers cheering fades out as Andie looks deep into her eyes, arms around her neck.  
Then she leans down and kisses Shay. Shay kisses back. She still doesn’t put Andie down.  
The sounds finally pull them out of their moment. They grin sweetly at each other as Andie disentangles herself and sets her feet back on the floor. She catches Shay’s hand and holds on.  
Violet strides towards an unsuspecting Chad and dips him into a kiss as the audience streams onto the dancefloor, still cheering and screaming.  
LMNTRIX wins the Vortex and gets the job offer. Jasper and Alexxa storm off and the Santiago twins take the opportunity to pull the Grim Knights twins onto the dancefloor. Boris and Ana cheer and dance together from the audience. Moose and Camille are still swaying together.  
Shay grins at Andie as they move together. She’s never felt such a high, even when the MOB got the Nike ad back in Miami. She can’t believe she’s here, she can’t believe they won, she can’t believe Andie kissed her.  
She twirls Andie around and spins her into her arms for another kiss, just because she can.


End file.
